Traditionalist conservatism, often known as classical conservatism, is a
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
and
social philosophy
Social philosophy examines questions about the foundations of social institutions, social behavior, and interpretations of society in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social ...
that emphasizes the importance of transcendent moral principles, manifested through certain
natural law
Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
s to which society should adhere prudently. Traditionalist conservatism is based on
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
's political views. Traditionalists value
social ties
In social network analysis and mathematical sociology, interpersonal ties are defined as information-carrying connections between people. Interpersonal ties, generally, come in three varieties: ''strong'', ''weak'' or ''absent''. Weak social ti ...
and the preservation of ancestral institutions above excessive individualism.
The concepts of
custom
Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to:
Traditions, laws, and religion
* Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom
* Norm (social), a r ...
,
convention, and
tradition
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
are heavily emphasized in traditionalist conservatism.
Theoretical reason is regarded as of secondary importance to
practical reason
In philosophy, practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. It contrasts with theoretical reason, often called speculative reason, the use of reason to decide what to follow. For example, agents use practical reason to decide whethe ...
. The
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
is also viewed as a social endeavor with spiritual and
organic characteristics. Traditionalists think that any change spontaneously arises from the
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...
's traditions rather than as a consequence of deliberate, reasoned thought.
Leadership
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
,
authority, and
hierarchy are seen as natural to humans. Traditionalism arose in Europe throughout the 18th century, mostly as a reaction to the chaos of the
English and
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
s. Traditionalist conservatism began to establish itself as an intellectual and political force in the mid-20th century.
Key principles
Religious faith and natural law
A number of traditionalist conservatives embrace
high church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(e.g.,
T. S. Eliot, an Anglo-Catholic;
Russell Kirk
Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book ''The Conservativ ...
, a Roman Catholic). Another traditionalist who has stated his faith tradition publicly is
Caleb Stegall
Caleb Stegall (born September 20, 1971) is an American attorney and writer who resides in Perry, Kansas. He has served as the district attorney for Jefferson County, Kansas, and Chief Counsel to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback before he was appoi ...
, an
evangelical Protestant
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual exper ...
. A number of conservative mainline Protestants are also traditionalists, such as
Peter Hitchens
Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for '' The Mail on Sunday'' and was a foreign correspondent reporting from both Moscow and Washington, D.C. Peter Hitchens ...
and
Roger Scruton
Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views.
Editor from 1982 ...
, and some traditionalists are Jewish, such as the late
Will Herberg
William Herberg (June 30, 1901 – March 26, 1977) was an American writer, intellectual and scholar. A communist political activist during his early years, Herberg gained wider public recognition as a social philosopher and sociologist of relig ...
,
Irving Louis Horowitz Irving Louis Horowitz (September 25, 1929 – March 21, 2012) was an American sociologist, author, and college professor who wrote and lectured extensively in his field, and his later years came to fear that it risked being seized by left-wing ide ...
,
Mordecai Roshwald
Mordecai Marceli Roshwald (May 26, 1921 – March 19, 2015) was an American academic and writer. Born in Drohobycz, Ukraine to Jewish parents, Roshwald later emigrated to Israel. His most famous work is '' Level 7'' (1959), a post-apocalyptic s ...
, and
Paul Gottfried.
Natural law is championed by
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
, called
eternal law, in the Summa Theologiae, he reaffirms the principle of
noncontradiction as being ("the same thing cannot be affirmed and denied at the same time"), Bonum precept is the first principle of that which precedes one's actions ("good is to be done and pursued and evil avoided"). The account of
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
Christian philosophy is the appreciation of the concept of the
Summum bonum or "highest good". It is only through the silent
contemplation
In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with prayer or meditation.
Etymology
The word ''contemplation'' is derived from the Latin word ' ...
that someone is able to achieve the idea of the
good
In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...
. The rest of natural law was first developed somewhat in
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...
's work, also was referenced and affirmed in the works by
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
, and it has been developed by the Christian
Albert the Great.
Tradition and custom
Traditionalists think that
tradition
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
and
custom
Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to:
Traditions, laws, and religion
* Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom
* Norm (social), a r ...
should guide man and his worldview, as their names imply. Each generation inherits its ancestors' experience and culture, which man is able to transmit down to his offspring through custom and precedent.
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
, often recognized as the father of contemporary
conservatism
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
, noted that "the individual is foolish, but the species is wise."
This conservatism, it has been argued, is based on living tradition rather than abstract political thinking. Some have drawn a distinction between pragmatic conservatism and rational conservatism, which holds that a community with a hierarchy of power is most conducive to human happiness. Returning to pragmatic conservatism, according to Kekes, "tradition represents for conservatives a continuum enmeshing the individual and social, and is immune to reasoned critique."
Hierarchy and organic unity
Traditionalist conservatives believe that human society is essentially
hierarchical (i.e., it always involves various interdependent inequalities, degrees, and classes) and that political structures that recognize this fact prove the most just, thriving, and generally beneficial. Hierarchy allows for the preservation of the whole community simultaneously, instead of protecting one part at the expense of the others.
Agrarianism
The countryside, as well as the values associated with it, are greatly valued (sometimes even being romanticized as in pastoral poetry).
Agrarian ideals (such as conserving small family farms, open land, natural resource conservation, and land stewardship) are important to certain traditionalists' conception of rural life.
Classicism and high culture
Traditionalists defend classical
Western civilization
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
and value an education informed by the texts of the
Roman and
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
eras. Similarly, traditionalists are
classicists
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
who revere
high culture
High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society con ...
in all of its manifestations (e.g.
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
,
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
,
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
and
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
).
Patriotism, localism and regionalism
Traditionalists consider
patriotism a core principle, described as a sense of devotion to one's homeland, in contrast to nationalists, who value the role of the state or nation over the
local
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
or
regional
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
community. Traditionalist conservatives believe that allegiance to a family, local community, or region is more important than any political commitment. Traditionalists prioritize
subsidiarity and community closeness above the larger state, preferring the
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.[nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...]
can lead to
jingoism, which sees the state as apart from the local community and family structure rather than as a product of both.
History
British influences
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
, an Anglo-Irish
Whig statesman and philosopher whose political principles were rooted in moral natural law and the Western heritage, founded traditionalist conservatism. Burke believed in prescriptive rights, which he considered to be "God-given". He argued for what he called "ordered liberty" (best reflected in the unwritten law of the British constitutional monarchy). He also fought for universal ideals that were supported by institutions such as the church, the family, and the state. He was a fierce critic of the principles behind the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, and in 1790, his observations on its excesses and radicalism were collected in ''
Reflections on the Revolution in France
''Reflections on the Revolution in France'' is a political pamphlet written by the Irish statesman Edmund Burke and published in November 1790. It is fundamentally a contrast of the French Revolution to that time with the unwritten British Const ...
''. In ''Reflections'', Burke called for the constitutional enactment of specific, concrete rights and warned that abstract rights could be easily abused to justify tyranny. American social critic and historian
Russell Kirk
Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book ''The Conservativ ...
wrote: "The ''Reflections'' burns with all the wrath and anguish of a prophet who saw the traditions of Christendom and the fabric of civil society dissolving before his eyes."
Burke's influence was felt by later intellectuals and authors in both Britain and continental Europe. The English Romantic poets
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...
,
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
and
Robert Southey
Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...
, as well as Scottish Romantic author
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
, and the counter-revolutionary writers
François-René de Chateaubriand
François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who had a notable influence on French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocrati ...
,
Louis de Bonald
Louis Gabriel Ambroise, Vicomte de Bonald (2 October 1754 – 23 November 1840) was a French counter-revolutionary philosopher and politician. He is mainly remembered for developing a theoretical framework from which French sociology would ...
and
Joseph de Maistre
Joseph Marie, comte de Maistre (; 1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821) was a Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat who advocated social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Despite his clo ...
were all affected by his ideas. Burke's legacy was best represented in the United States by the
Federalist Party and its leaders, such as President
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...
and Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton.
Edmund Burke describes conservatism as an "approach to human affairs which mistrusts both ''a priori'' reasoning and revolution, preferring to put its trust in experience and in the gradual improvement of tried and tested arrangements."
Critics of material progress
Three
cultural conservatives and
skeptics of material development,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...
,
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
, and
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
, were staunch supporters of Burke's classical conservatism.
According to conservative scholar Peter Viereck, Coleridge and his colleague and fellow poet
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
began as followers of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
and the radical utopianism it engendered. Their collection of poems, ''Lyrical Ballads'', published in 1798, however, rejected the
Enlightenment notion of reason triumphing over faith and tradition. Later works by Coleridge, such as ''Lay Sermons'' (1816), ''Biographia Literaria'' (1817) and ''Aids to Reflection'' (1825), defended traditional conservative positions on hierarchy and organic society, criticism of materialism and the merchant class, and the need for "inner growth" that is rooted in a traditional and religious culture. Coleridge was a strong supporter of social institutions and an outspoken opponent of
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
and his
utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
theory.
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
, a writer, historian, and essayist, was an early traditionalist thinker, defending medieval ideals such as aristocracy, hierarchy, organic society, and class unity against communism and ''
laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups ...
''
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
's "cash nexus." The "cash nexus," according to Carlyle, occurs when social interactions are reduced to economic gain. Carlyle, a lover of the poor, claimed that mobs, plutocrats, anarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, and others were threatening the fabric of British society by exploiting them and perpetuating class animosity. A devotee of Germanic culture and
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, Carlyle is best known for his works, ''
Sartor Resartus
''Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh in Three Books'' is an 1831 novel by the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, first published as a serial in ''Fraser's Magazine'' in November 1833 – Augus ...
'' (1833–1834) and ''
Past and Present'' (1843).
The
Oxford Movement, a religious movement aimed at restoring Anglicanism's Catholic nature, gave the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
a "catholic rebirth" in the mid-19th century. The
Tractarians (so named for the publication of their ''
Tracts for the Times
The Tracts for the Times were a series of 90 theological publications, varying in length from a few pages to book-length, produced by members of the English Oxford Movement, an Anglo-Catholic revival group, from 1833 to 1841. There were about a do ...
'') criticized
theological liberalism while preserving "dogma, ritual, poetry,
ndtradition," led by
John Keble,
Edward Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey (; 22 August 180016 September 1882) was an English Anglican cleric, for more than fifty years Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. He was one of the leading figures in the Oxford Movement.
Early years
...
, and
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
. Newman (who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1845 and was later made a Cardinal and a canonized saint) and the Tractarians, like Coleridge and Carlyle, were critical of material progress, or the idea that money, prosperity, and economic gain constituted the totality of human existence.
Cultural and artistic criticism
Culture and the arts were also important to British traditionalist conservatives, and two of the most prominent defenders of tradition in culture and the arts were
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...
and
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
.
A poet and cultural commentator,
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...
is most recognized for his poems and literary, social, and religious criticism. His book ''Culture and Anarchy'' (1869) criticized Victorian middle-class norms (Arnold referred to middle class tastes in literature as "
philistinism
In the fields of philosophy and of aesthetics, the term philistinism describes the attitudes, habits, and characteristics of a person who deprecates art and beauty, spirituality and intellect.''Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the ...
") and advocated a return to ancient literature. Arnold was likewise skeptical of the plutocratic grasping at socioeconomic issues that had been denounced by Coleridge, Carlyle, and the Oxford Movement. Arnold was a vehement critic of the Liberal Party and its Nonconformist base. He mocked Liberal efforts to disestablish the Anglican Church in Ireland, establish a Catholic university there, allow dissenters to be buried in Church of England cemeteries, demand temperance, and ignore the need to improve middle class members rather than impose their unreasonable beliefs on society. Education was essential, and by that, Arnold meant a close reading and attachment to the cultural classics, coupled with critical reflection. He feared anarchy—the fragmentation of life into isolated facts that is caused by dangerous educational panaceas that emerge from materialistic and utilitarian philosophies. He was appalled at the shamelessness of the sensationalistic new journalism of the sort he witnessed on his tour of the United States in 1888. He prophesied, "If one were searching for the best means to efface and kill in a whole nation the discipline of self-respect, the feeling for what is elevated, he could do no better than take the American newspapers."
One of the issues that traditionalist conservatives have often emphasized is that capitalism is just as suspect as the
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econo ...
that gave birth to it. Cultural and artistic critic
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
, a medievalist who considered himself a "Christian communist" and cared much about standards in culture, the arts, and society, continued this tradition. The
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, according to Ruskin (and all 19th-century cultural conservatives), had caused dislocation, rootlessness, and vast urbanization of the poor. He wrote ''The Stones of Venice'' (1851–1853), a work of art criticism that attacked the Classical heritage while upholding Gothic art and architecture. ''The Seven Lamps of Architecture'' and ''Unto This Last'' (1860) were two of his other masterpieces.
One-nation conservatism
Burke, Coleridge, Carlyle, Newman, and other traditionalist conservatives' beliefs were distilled into former British Prime Minister
Benjamin Disraeli's politics and ideology. When he was younger, Disraeli was an outspoken opponent of middle-class capitalism and the Manchester liberals' industrial policies (the Reform Bill and the Corn Laws). In order to ameliorate the suffering of the urban poor in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, Disraeli proposed "
one-nation conservatism
One-nation conservatism, also known as one-nationism or Tory democracy, is a paternalistic form of British political conservatism. It advocates the preservation of established institutions and traditional principles within a political dem ...
," in which a coalition of aristocrats and commoners would band together to counter the liberal middle class's influence. This new coalition would be a way to interact with disenfranchised people while also rooting them in old conservative principles. Disraeli's ideas (especially his critique of
utilitarianism
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different chara ...
) were popularized in the "Young England" movement and in books like ''Vindication of the English Constitution'' (1835), ''The Radical Tory'' (1837), and his "social novels," ''
Coningsby
Coningsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England, it is situated on the A153 road, adjoining Tattershall on its western side, 13 miles (22 km) north west of Boston and 8 miles (13 km) so ...
'' (1844) and ''Sybil'' (1845). His one-nation conservatism was revived a few years later in
Lord Randolph Churchill's Tory democracy and in the early 21st century in British philosopher
Phillip Blond
Phillip Blond (born 1 March 1966) is an English political philosopher, Anglican theologian, and director of the ResPublica think tank.
Early life
Born in Liverpool and educated at Pensby High School for Boys, Blond went on to study philosophy ...
's
Red Tory
A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre to centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition, most predominantly in Canada but also in the United Kingdom and Australia. This philosophy tends to fa ...
thesis.
Distributism
![Portrait of Hilaire Belloc](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Portrait_of_Hilaire_Belloc.jpg)
In the early 20th century, traditionalist conservatism found its defenders through the efforts of
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...
,
G. K. Chesterton and other proponents of the socioeconomic system they advocated:
distributism
Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated.
Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching pri ...
. Originating in the papal encyclical ''
Rerum novarum'', distributism employed the concept of
subsidiarity as a "third way" solution to the twin evils of communism and capitalism. It favors local economies, small business, the agrarian way of life and craftsmen and artists. Traditional communities akin to those found in the Middle Ages were advocated in books like Belloc's ''The Servile State'' (1912), ''Economics for Helen'' (1924), and ''An Essay on the Restoration of Property'' (1936), and Chesterton's ''The Outline of Sanity'' (1926), while big business and big government were condemned. Distributist views were accepted in the United States by the journalist
Herbert Agar and Catholic activist
Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known ...
as well as through the influence of the German-born British economist
E. F. Schumacher, and were comparable to Wilhelm Roepke's work.
T. S. Eliot was a staunch supporter of Western culture and traditional Christianity. Eliot was a political reactionary who used literary modernism to achieve traditionalist goals. Following in the footsteps of
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...
,
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
,
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
,
G. K. Chesterton, and
Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...
, he wrote ''After Strange Gods'' (1934), and ''Notes towards the Definition of Culture'' (1948). At Harvard University, where he was educated by Irving Babbitt and George Santayana, Eliot was acquainted with Allen Tate and
Russell Kirk
Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book ''The Conservativ ...
.
T. S. Eliot praised Christopher Dawson as the most potent intellectual influence in Britain, and he was a prominent player in 20th-century traditionalism. The belief that religion was at the center of all civilization, especially Western culture, was central to his work, and his books reflected this view, notably ''The Age of Gods'' (1928), ''Religion and Culture'' (1948), and ''Religion and the Rise of Western Culture'' (1950). Dawson, a contributor to Eliot's ''The Criterion (magazine), Criterion'', believed that religion and culture were crucial to rebuilding the West after World War II in the aftermath of fascism and the advent of communism.
In the United Kingdom
Philosophers
![Images-stories-Photos-roger scruton 16 70dpi photographer by pete helme-267x397](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Images-stories-Photos-roger_scruton_16_70dpi_photographer_by_pete_helme-267x397.jpg)
Roger Scruton, a British philosopher, was a self-described traditionalist and conservative. One of his most well-known books, ''The Meaning of Conservatism'' (1980), is on foreign policy, animal rights, arts and culture, and philosophy. Scruton was a member of the American Enterprise Institute, the Institute for the Psychological Sciences, the Trinity Forum, and the Center for European Renewal. ''Modern Age (periodical), Modern Age'', ''National Review'', ''The American Spectator'', ''The New Criterion'', and ''City Journal (New York City), City Journal'' were among the many publications for which he wrote.
Phillip Blond
Phillip Blond (born 1 March 1966) is an English political philosopher, Anglican theologian, and director of the ResPublica think tank.
Early life
Born in Liverpool and educated at Pensby High School for Boys, Blond went on to study philosophy ...
, a British philosopher, has recently gained notoriety as a proponent of traditionalist philosophy, specifically progressive conservatism, or
Red Tory
A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre to centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition, most predominantly in Canada but also in the United Kingdom and Australia. This philosophy tends to fa ...
ism. Blond believes that Red Toryism would rejuvenate Conservatism in the United Kingdom, British conservatism and society by combining civic communitarianism, Localism (politics), localism, and traditional values. He has formed a think tank, ResPublica.
Publications and political organizations
The oldest traditionalist publication in the United Kingdom is ''The Salisbury Review'', which was founded by British philosopher
Roger Scruton
Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views.
Editor from 1982 ...
. The ''Salisbury Review''s current managing editor is Merrie Cave.
A group of traditionalist MPs known as the Cornerstone Group was created in 2005 within the Conservative Party (UK), British Conservative Party. The Cornerstone Group represents "faith, flag, and family" and stands for traditional values. Edward Leigh and John Hayes (British politician), John Henry Hayes are two notable members.
In Europe
The Edmund Burke Foundation is a traditionalist educational foundation established in the Netherlands and is modeled after the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. It was created by traditionalists such as academic Andreas Kinneging and journalist Bart Jan Spruyt as a think tank. The Center for European Renewal is linked with it.
In 2007, a number of leading traditionalist scholars from Europe, as well as representatives of the Edmund Burke Foundation and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, created the Center for European Renewal, which is designed to be the European version of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
In the United States
![Russell Kirk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Russell_Kirk.jpg)
The Federalist Party, Federalists had no ties to European-style nobility, royalty, or organized churches when it came to "classical conservatism."
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...
was one of the first champions of a traditional social order.
The Whig Party (United States), Whig Party had an approach that mirrored Burkean conservatism in the post-Revolutionary era. Rufus Choate argued that lawyers were the guardians and preservers of the Constitution. In the antebellum period, George Ticknor and Edward Everett were the "Guardians of Civilization." Orestes Brownson examined how America satisfies Catholic tradition and Western civilization.
An intellectual branch of early-20th-century conservatism was known as New humanism (literature), New Humanism. The Southern Agrarians, or Fugitives, were another group of traditionalist conservatives. In 1930, some of the Fugitives published ''I'll Take My Stand'', which applied agrarian standards to politics and economics.
Following WWII, the initial stirrings of a "traditionalist movement" emerged. Certain conservative scholars and writers garnered the attention of the popular press.
Russell Kirk
Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book ''The Conservativ ...
's ''The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot'', an expansion of his PhD dissertation written in Scotland, was the book that defined the traditionalist school. Kirk was an independent scholar, writer, critic, and man of letters. He was friends with William F. Buckley, Jr., a ''National Review'' columnist, editor, and syndicated columnist. When Barry Goldwater combated the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Eastern Establishment in 1964, Kirk backed him in the primaries and campaigned for him. After Goldwater's defeat, the New Right reunited in the late 1970s and found a new leader in Ronald Reagan.
Political organizations
The Trinity Forum, Ellis Sandoz's Eric Voegelin Institute and the Eric Voegelin Society, the Conservative Institute's New Centurion Program, the T. S. Eliot Society, the Malcolm Muggeridge Society, and the Free Enterprise Institute's Center for the American Idea are all traditionalist groups. The Wilbur Foundation is a prominent supporter of traditionalist activities, particularly the Russell Kirk Center.
Literary
Literary traditionalists are frequently associated with political conservatives and the right-wing, whilst Experimental literature, experimental works and the avant-garde are frequently associated with Progressivism, progressives and the left-wing. John Barth, a postmodern writer and literary theorist, said: "I confess to missing, in apprentice seminars in the later 1970s and the 1980s, that lively Make-It-New spirit of the Buffalo Sixties. A roomful of young traditionalists can be as depressing as a roomful of young Republicans."
[John Barth (1984) intro to ''The Literature of Exhaustion'', in ''The Friday Book''.]
James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Russell Lowell, W. H. Mallock, Robert Frost and
T. S. Eliot are among the literary figures covered in
Russell Kirk
Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book ''The Conservativ ...
's ''The Conservative Mind'' (1953). The writings of Rudyard Kipling and Phyllis McGinley are presented as instances of literary traditionalism in Kirk's ''The Conservative Reader'' (1982). Kirk was also a well-known author of spooky and suspense fiction with a Gothic flavor. Ray Bradbury and Madeleine L'Engle both praised novels such as ''Old House of Fear'', ''A Creature of the Twilight,'' and ''Lord of the Hollow Dark'' as well as short stories such as "Lex Talionis", "Lost Lake", "Beyond the Stumps", "Ex Tenebris," and "Fate's Purse." Kirk was also close friends with a number of 20th-century literary heavyweights, including
T. S. Eliot, Roy Campbell (poet), Roy Campbell, Wyndham Lewis, Ray Bradbury, Madeleine L'Engle, Fernando Sánchez Dragó, and Flannery O'Connor, all of whom wrote conservative poetry or fiction.
Evelyn Waugh, the British novelist and traditionalist Catholic, is often considered a traditionalist conservative.
Traditionalism: between the past and the present
nytimes.com
See also
* Christian democracy
* Communitarianism
* Counter-Enlightenment
* Corporatism
* Distributism
* High Tories
* Historical school of economics
* Integralism
* Localism (politics)
* Monarchism
* National conservatism
* Natural order (philosophy)
* New humanism (literature), New Humanism
* New traditionalism
* Organicism
* Paleoconservatism
* Philosophical naturalism
* Red Tory
A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre to centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition, most predominantly in Canada but also in the United Kingdom and Australia. This philosophy tends to fa ...
* Regionalism (politics), Regionalism
* Right-wing authoritarianism
* Royalism
* Social conservatism
* Tory
* Tory (political faction)
* Traditionalism (Spain)
References
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
Articles
"Understanding Traditionalist Conservatism"
by Mark C. Henrie. ''The New Pantagruel'', formerly published in ''Varieties of Conservatism in America'', Peter Berkowitz, Ed. (Hoover Press, 2004) .
General references
* Allitt, Patrick (2009) ''The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
* Critchlow, Donald T. (2007) ''The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
* Dunn, Charles W., and J. David Woodard (2003) ''The Conservative Tradition in America''. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
* Edwards, Lee (2004) ''A Brief History of the Modern American Conservative Movement''. Washington, D.C.: Heritage Foundation.
* Frohnen, Bruce, Jeremy Beer, and Jeffrey O. Nelson (2006) ''American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia''. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books.
* Gottfried, Paul, and Thomas Fleming (1988) ''The Conservative Movement''. Boston: Twayne Publishers.
* Nash, George H. (1976, 2006) ''The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America since 1945''. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books.
* Nisbet, Robert (1986) ''Conservatism: Dream and Reality''. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
* Alfred S. Regnery, Regnery, Alfred S. (2008) ''Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism''. New York: Threshold Editions.
* Viereck, Peter (1956, 2006) ''Conservative Thinkers from John Adams to Winston Churchill''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
By the New Conservatives
* Bestor, Arthur (1953, 1988) ''Educational Wastelands: The Retreat from Learning in Our Public Schools''. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
* Boorstin, Daniel (1953) ''The Genius of American Politics''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
* Chalmers, Gordon Keith (1952) ''The Republic and the Person: A Discussion of Necessities in Modern American Education''. Chicago: Regnery.
* Hallowell, John (1954, 2007) ''The Moral Foundation of Democracy''. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund Inc.
* Heckscher, August (1947) ''A Pattern of Politics''. New York: Reynal and Hitchcock.
* Kirk, Russell (1953, 2001) ''The Conservative Mind from Burke to Eliot''. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing.
* Kirk, Russell (1982) ''The Portable Conservative Reader''. New York: Penguin.
* Nisbet, Robert (1953, 1990) ''The Quest for Community: A Study in the Ethics of Order and Freedom''. San Francisco: ICS Press.
* Smith, Mortimer (1949) ''And Madly Teach''. Chicago:Henry Regnery Co.
* Viereck, Peter (1949, 2006) ''Conservatism Revisited: The Revolt Against Ideology''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
* Vivas, Eliseo (1950, 1983) ''The Moral Life and the Ethical Life''. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
* Voegelin, Eric (1952, 1987) ''The New Science of Politics: An Introduction''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
* Weaver, Richard (1948, 1984) ''Ideas Have Consequences''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
* Wilson, Francis G. (1951, 1990) ''The Case for Conservatism''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
By other traditionalist conservatives
* Dreher, Rod (2006) ''Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, Gun-loving Organic Farmers, Hip Homeschooling Mamas, Right-wing Nature Lovers, and Their Diverse Tribe of Countercultural Conservatives Plan to Save America (or At Least the Republican Party)''. New York: Crown Forum.
* Frohnen, Bruce (1993) ''Virtue and the Promise of Conservatism: The Legacy of Burke and Tocqueville''. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
* Henrie, Mark C. (2008) ''Arguing Conservatism: Four Decades of the Intercollegiate Review''. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books.
* Kushiner, James M., Ed. (2003) ''Creed and Culture: A Touchstone Reader''. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books.
* MacIntyre, Alaisdar (1981, 2007) ''After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory''. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
* Panichas, George A., Ed. (1988) ''Modern Age: The First Twenty-Five Years: A Selection''. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, Inc.
* Panichas, George A. (2008) ''Restoring the Meaning of Conservatism: Writings from Modern Age''. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books.
* Roger Scruton, Scruton, Roger (1980, 2002) ''The Meaning of Conservatism''. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press.
* Roger Scruton, Scruton, Roger (2012) ''Green Philosophy: How to Think Seriously About the Planet''. Atlantic Books
About traditionalist conservatives
* Duffy, Bernard K. and Martin Jacobi (1993) ''The Politics of Rhetoric: Richard M. Weaver and the Conservative Tradition''. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press.
* Federici, Michael P. (2002) ''Eric Voegelin: The Restoration of Order''. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books.
* Gottfried, Paul (2009) ''Encounters: My Life with Nixon, Marcuse, and Other Friends and Teachers''. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books.
* Kirk, Russell (1995) ''The Sword of Imagination: Memoirs of a Half-Century of Literary Conflict''. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Co.
* Langdale, John., (2012) ''Superfluous Southerners: Cultural Conservatism and the South, 1920–1990''. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.
* McDonald, W. Wesley (2004) ''Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology''. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.
* Person, James E., Jr. (1999) ''Russell Kirk: A Critical Biography of a Conservative Mind''. Lanham, MD: Madison Books.
* Russello, Gerald J. (2007) ''The Postmodern Imagination of Russell Kirk''. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.
* Scotchie, Joseph (1997) ''Barbarians in the Saddle: An Intellectual Biography of Richard M. Weaver''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
* Scotchie, Joseph (1995) ''The Vision of Richard Weaver''. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
* Roger Scruton, Scruton, Roger (2005) ''Gentle Regrets: Thoughts From A Life'' London: Continuum.
* Stone, Brad Lowell (2002) ''Robert Nisbet: Communitarian Traditionalist''. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books.
* Wilson, Clyde (1999) ''A Defender of Conservatism: M. E. Bradford and His Achievements''. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Traditionalist Conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism in the United States
Conservatism in the United Kingdom
Criticism of rationalism
Counter-Enlightenment
Toryism
Tradition
Right-wing ideologies